Harry's Search for the Best of Brooms
by 0idontknow0
Summary: Harry's on a journey to find a new broom. His old broom has been destroyed and he refuses to use something that does not meet up to his rather ridiculous standards. At some point he runs into Malfoy, in Japan, who happens to be an expert on brooms. THE expert as a matter of fact.
1. What It Is He Misses

**Title:** Harry's Search For the Best of Brooms

**Pairing: **Harry/Draco

**Rating: **M, for terrible broom innuendos and eventual shagging.

**Summary:** Harry's on a journey to find a new broom. His old broom has been destroyed and he refuses to use something that does not meet up to his rather ridiculous standards. At some point he runs into Malfoy, in Japan, who happens to be an expert on brooms. _The expert_ as a matter of fact.

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J.K. Rowling and publishers. No offense is meant by this fan fiction and this is made purely for fun. Any quotes used with include the title of the book it was taken from.

**A/N:** I started this YEARS ago. I want to finish it. I'm posting it so that I force myself to do just that. Because no one wants to leave readers hanging for too long. Also, since I'm starting that _Fighting Circumstances_ arc I rather think I should have something really light hearted to work on at the same time so I don't depress myself. Never mind that I have all those other things I'm in the middle of as well. I'm clearly a glutton for punishment.

Also, there are flashbacks of Harry's most memorable moments when flying, a lot of them include Draco. So if a chapter begins with a quote from the book or something that's an indicator for a flashback. I really should finish sorting out the flow of this but I'm just going to wing it...

* * *

"How about that one?" Ginny said, as she pointed to the magazine in front of them.

"I don't know Gin, I'm not drawn in in any way." Harry mumbled, as he looked.

"But look at her, she's _beautiful_." Ginny said, as she checked her out. "I'd get her if I needed her. She's sleek and not too tall and look at those features!"

"I _know_. She just, doesn't seem right for me... I can't see myself enjoying riding her. Maybe for a one off but otherwise..." He said, as he rested his head on the table, this was getting depressing.

"Well, clearly something's wrong with you. I'd love to ride her, she's just asking for it." Ginny said, as she sat back in her chair and looked at him. She sighed at his childishness. "You need to move on, Harry. I know it's hard to get over a long time love, but you need to. She's not here anymore."

"I want my old Firebolt." He mumbled, as he closed the _Brooms Weekly_ magazine, it was doing Ginny more good than it was him.

"Harry, she's beyond repair. You can't get her back." Ginny explained, distractedly.

Harry looked up and saw her eyeing some brunette. He gave the man a quick one over. He was pretty good looking in Harry's opinion. "He's got no arse, Gin," Harry commented, before looking away. "What am I going to do? I even named her y'know. Took me forever too. Poo-"

"_Poor Saraphine, if only I had known I would have lost her I would have used the floo to get to_-"

"All right, Gin. Bloody hell, no need to quote me."

"No need to say it so darn often then, yeah?" she said, as she pushed him playfully, he smiled despite himself. "C'mon, Ron and George should be closing up shop soon."

* * *

When Harry and Ginny went inside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes it was already closed for the day. They headed straight for the back room and were greeted with an explosion of green smoke that smelled a bit like peppermint. They quickly retreated, fanning away the mystery smoke and trying to avoid too much exposure to it, they had both been victim to one too many of Ron and George's inventions.

Harry coughed as he covered his face with his hand, he could see someone coming towards him and Ginny. A sputtering Ron emerged from the cloud of smoke and he was covered with a layer of green dust that glistened slightly. Ron fumbled around, rummaging his pockets and grinned once he found his wand. He spelled himself clean as the smoke seemingly got sucked into the back room.

"Sorry 'bout that, yeah?" Ron said, as he inspected what little of his hair he could see without a mirror. "For some reason the Peppermint Poppers are a tad unstable."

"Peppermint Poppers?" Ginny asked, as she peeked behind Ron.

"Yeah, we've decided to start selling a bit of candy. They're supposed to explode in your mouth and give you that minty feeling for a full eight hours."

"Um, Ron, shouldn't you check on George?" Harry too tried to see what was happening behind Ron.

"He's fine. Just cleaning up the room. So, where're we all going tonight?" Ron asked, as he headed for the door.

"I was thinking of going to Fortescue's." Ginny said, excitedly, as George finally came from the back room, dust free and without a speck of green on him. "Michael's band is playing tonight."

"Corner?" Ron asked, as he slipped on his coat. Harry sighed and headed for the door with George.

"Yeah. I figured we could go listen. They sound pretty good you know."

"You're not trying to get back with him are you?" By the time Ron had asked that Harry and George were out the door laughing at his expression.

"Oh come off it. And no I'm not. He's a _friend_."

* * *

By the time they had reached Fortescue's Hermione was seated at a table on the patio and the band was setting up. Ron quickly made his way over to her and they shared a chaste kiss. Harry still felt a bit uncomfortable seeing the two of them being intimate, but he was fine as long as it was nothing explicit.

"Your face smells like peppermint, _you_ smell like peppermint," Hermione said. Ron sniffed at his hand. "I like it."

They took their seats and chatted about the peppermint incident as they waited for Luna to arrive.

George spotted Luna first and it was not long before Harry noticed her too, she was hard to miss. Luna had her hair pinned up and wore a turquoise dress with black stockings that had big white polka dots and some red converse-like sneakers. Her jacket was the brightest of yellows and sported big, shiny, red buttons that reminded Harry of those fake cherries that you always get with drinks. She smiled as she saw them and hurried over, but not before tripping and falling head first into one of the nearby bins. Harry watched in surprise as her legs stuck out at an odd angle and quickly got up, along with most the table, to go and help her.

Before any of them could rush over to help Luna though, a man went to her rescue. He was brown-skinned and had extremely curly hair and nervously reached to pull Luna out before pulling back and then moving forward again once he realized a different angle would make more sense. He cautiously reached into the bin and pulled her up by her waist before setting her down and plucking debris from her hair. Luna straightened her clothes and smiled at him. They seemed to have a short conversation before she walked over.

"Luna, are you alright?" Harry asked when she reached the table. Hermione got up and cast a cleaning charm on her before she started bustling around, lifting Luna's arms and inspecting her for injury.

"Oh, I'm quite fine Harry, thanks for asking. Never been inside a bin before, it was quite an experience actually." Luna seemed oblivious to Hermione's fussing about.

"Well, she doesn't seem to be hurt anywhere. That's good." Hermione said, before sitting down.

"So who was the bloke?" George asked, as Luna took her seat.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. He said his name was Rolf. Rolf Scamander." Luna explained, as she sat down. "His eyes remind me of chocolate. The dark kind. Have we gotten our ice cream as yet?"

"No we haven't, but we will now." Ginny said, as she smiled at Luna.

* * *

Harry licked his ice cream cone as he watched Something Exponential perform, and like Ginny said they sounded pretty good. His favourite so far was called A Little Less Lonely. Once the performance was done, and Harry had finished his chocolate cookie dough ice cream cone, Michael had come over to the table and sat with them. Everyone made their comments about the band and how they did not expect Michael to be such an excellent drummer and Ginny finally announced why exactly she had invited them all out.

"I'm made it into the Holyhead Harpies."

With that said, despite his being happy for his friend Harry could not help but remember how much he missed his broom. If he had known Hagrid had gotten a new 'pet', one that chewed and chomped on everything in sight, he would have never have leaned his dear Saraphine against the door outside while they walked through the pumpkin patch.


	2. A New Idea

"Harry this is ridiculous." Hermione said petulantly, as she robbed him off his bed sheets. "You haven't left Grimmauld Place in a week. A week Harry. You're hardly ever here for two whole days, let alone a week."

"Mmmm Mione... s'cold..." he mumbled, as he rolled away from her voice. She really was too motherly, how did Ron stand it?

"Harry, a broom is no reason to get depressed. If it's bothering you so much you might as well scour the world since London isn't providing anything satisfactory, and since you refuse to use a replacement broom until you do find one." At that Harry shot out of bed and grabbed Hermione by the shoulders.

"Hermione, you're brilliant!" Harry shouted, as she grimaced and leaned as far away from him as his hold would allow. "I'll go and visit the best broom makers on the globe. I'm bound to find something to replace Saraphine."

"Yes, yes, yes." Hermione said dismissively, "Now, if you'd let me go Harry, your face smells like foot."

"What? Oh... Sorry." Harry mumbled and let her go.

"Wait... did you say you were going to search the globe? I was joking you know Harry. Despite what Ron says, I do tend to make a joke from time to time."

"Yes, but they're generally about Arithmancy or something of the sort." Harry went around his room getting things to change into. "Anyway, I reckon I'll be able to find something of good quality if I widen my search range."

"Harry I don't think this is a-"

"I'll definitely find something."

* * *

Harry groaned in frustration as he flopped onto the bed. He was in Machu Picchu, Peru and he had been there for a week. Before that he had been in Germany for ten days and Australia for eight. Some of the most renowned broom makers were known to reside there and after checking them out and testing their brooms, Harry had been left immensely disappointed. He searched and searched, visiting obscure places and popular, expensive, broom boutiques. Yes, they were all of high quality, but none compared to Saraphine. She had been sleek, fast, had good control and a minimal amount of air resistance.

Harry would be taking a portkey to Japan in the morning and he was almost certain the results would be the same. Blood boiling, Harry lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling until he found himself waking up from the ring of his alarm. He grumbled and clambered out of bed. He went through his morning routine and soon he was flooing into the lobby and checking out. The receptionist, Evita was her name, checked him out and went to retrieve his portkey from the safe.

"Thank you for choosing Inkaterra, Machu Picchu, Mr. Potter. I hope you enjoyed your stay." She said, with a well practised smile on her face. "And I do hope you come back soon."

"Thanks." Harry said before taking his portkey and sliding it out the bag. When he grabbed it he felt that familiar tug in his navel and found himself standing in the portkey area of the Hakata Miyako Hotel, Fukuoka, Japan.


	3. The Broom Expert

Progress thus far was terrible. All of the brooms Harry tried were miserable. They were too plain, or too flashy, or too slow and lacking precision, or they did not ride well or comfortably. When it came to broom boutiques he would try a few of the test brooms and if those did could not meet up to his standards well enough then he doubted the broom maker would be able to produce anything sufficient.

So once again Harry sighed and looked hopefully at the small shop he had apparated to. A number of the retail broom shops had recommended the place, apparently the man was an expert, and Harry had decided to skip ahead to this shop and see what all the fuss was about since everywhere else was disappointing him anyway.

The shop itself was unassuming and had taken Harry some time to find. Hakata full of Muggle businesses and the Wizarding shops were so well concealed that he had almost found his own eye passing some of them at first. He took a deep breath and pulled the door open and stepped inside, there a soft chime.

The shop had a few brooms lining the walls and Harry could see that they were well shaped and well cut. Some were streamlined beautifully for less resistance and others looked like collector's items. One of the walls had a number of pull out drawers and Harry peered inside one of them to find blocks of varying types of wood. Another drawer held bristle material. One had types of varnish.

A door creaked and Harry turned around to see someone closing a door. The man had platinum blonde hair that was in a neat ponytail which reached about mid-back. He was slender and kept good posture and if Harry was completely honest the bloke had a fairly nice ars-

He started when the bloke began to turn around and say something in Japanese.

It was Draco Malfoy.

"M-Malfoy?" he asked, more than sufficiently shocked.

The blonde stopped mid sentence and looked just about as shocked as Harry was before he recovered and a slow smirk formed on the familiar face. "Harry Potter, well, _this_ is unexpected. I assume you're here to purchase a broom from me?"

"I- yes," he nodded, still more than confused. "What the bloody hell are you doing in _Japan_?"

"I'm sure you didn't come all the way here to ask about me, Potter," Malfoy said, as he made his way towards Harry.

_He's grown well._

"No, I reckon I didn't," he admitted. He dragged his eyes up to the man's face and nodded. "Right, I came here looking to buy a broom from you, or have one made. I hear you manage to keep up to factory quality."

"I do," Malfoy nodded, as he crossed his arms. "What exactly are you looking for?"

"I'm... not entirely sure how to describe it," he frowned. "I want something special, something that's more than just... an object. I need a broom that I can treasure that rides smoothly and swiftly and precisely, one that's functional but uniquely my own."

"I'll see what I can do for you," Malfoy murmured. The blonde seemed to consider Harry a moment and then moved to the wall of brooms and let his hand hover over a few as he thought. He picked one up and returned to Harry, humming in thought. "I'll have you try a few of these. Tell me which you prefer. It'll give me somewhere to start. Follow me."

Harry followed Malfoy to the back and was shocked to see an open field behind the shop. The blonde turned and handed him the broom and he took it, letting his eyes roam the length of it. It looked all right enough.

"Does it ride well?" he asked.

"Ride it and find out," Malfoy said. "I don't get many complaints about performance though."

Harry nodded, took a deep breath and mounted the broom before kicking off.


	4. First Flight

**_Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday — and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together._**

**"_Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy." - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_**

* * *

_Harry, despite having to share another class with Malfoy, was excited and not to mention nervous. He had been looking forwards to learning how to fly ever since the blonde prat had mentioned it in Madam Malkin's. Harry and Ron each stood beside a broom and glanced at each other with hopeful smiles on their faces. The professor, Madam Hooch, seemed strict and to the point. Following her instructions Harry held his right hand out over the broom and shouted "UP!" There was a pleasant tingling that swirled in his palm and in an instant he was holding the broom and bearing a smile that he thought would reach his ears._

_Ron was also holding his broom and grinning with delight. Harry looked over to Hermione and watched as her broom reluctantly rolled over as she repeated the word 'up' as if she were scolding it. He looked at Neville and saw that his broom refused to move. Unable to help himself he looked over to Malfoy and was disappointed at the boy's success. Once Madam Hooch had told them how to mount their brooms however, Harry was pleased to see Malfoy's face when she had told him he had been holding his broom wrongly for all those years._

_Madam Hooch was now counting down for them to kick off on their brooms and Harry was restless with anticipation, but so was Neville -not from anticipation though. They boy prematurely kicked off and sent himself flying up, up, up and soon Harry saw him plummeting to the ground. There was a nasty cracking sound and Madam Hooch made her way over to him and carried him to the infirmary. He hoped Neville would be all right._

_Oblivious to the danger Neville was in, Malfoy began to make snarky comments about the boy and his housemates joined in. While Parvati and Pansy were going at each other about Neville, Malfoy had found the Remembrall that Neville had gotten in the mail earlier somewhere in the grass and was holding it up to the light. Harry stepped forwards and demanded that Malfoy hand the Remembrall over to him. Rather than listen to Harry though, Malfoy swiftly got on his broom and soared into the air, taunting Harry to go get it from him. Harry looked on in slight amazement at how well the boy was flying and he wanted to be able to do that too. That was not the point though, Harry needed to get Neville's Remembrall back. Ignoring Hermione's protests, Harry grabbed his broom and went up after Malfoy._

_For a moment Harry had forgotten his goal. He was flying. Harry Potter, The Boy from the Cupboard, was _flying_. The wind was blowing through his hair, his robes billowed out behind him, he felt weightless, he felt free. He somehow flew up to Malfoy and looked the boy straight in the face, his very shocked face. When Malfoy refused to hand him the Remembrall he flew at him but the boy narrowly dodged him and once they both realized that Crabbe and Goyle were not around to save Malfoy's arse, the boy threw the Remembrall high into the air and sped towards the ground as Harry flew for it._

_For the third time, Harry forgot his goal. He was flying faster and faster towards the Remembrall watching as it was falling towards the ground and sped towards it as best he could. He thought he would scream from joy but something kept him focused on what he was doing. Once he grabbed the item and pulled his broom up he lowered himself gently onto the ground Harry chuckled and savoured the remnants of adrenaline that coursed through his veins and the rush and the rightness of it. That is, until Professor McGonagall screamed out his name and with that his classmates screams and cheers stopped and Harry's joy was replaced with fear._

* * *

**A/N:** I've realized that apart from chapter 1 my instalments for this series are on the short side. I'm not entirely sure if that'll change but I'll try to dish out a bit more per chapter if I can.


End file.
